Wings Fall to Leafs to Close Exhibition Season

The Detroit Red Wings allowed three third-period goals, turning a 2-1 lead into a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs Sunday night. Detroit finished up their preseason schedule with a record of 2-6-1.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Red Wings’ head coach Dave Lewis said. “I’ll put it that way, because Monday morning it doesn’t matter.”

After allowing the game’s first goal, the Wings scored twice on the power play in the second period to grab the lead. Toronto then scored three times in the third period to close out the scoring.

“These are the kind of games that I want to win,” Lewis said. “I think that’s the way we’ll play this year: capitalize on our power plays and defend the lead.”

“Right now,” he said, “we just have three days to work on things and get ready for L.A.”

The Red Wings open the regular season on Thursday night when the Los Angeles Kings visit Joe Louis Arena.

The Leafs scored the lone goal of the first period when Joe Nieuwendyk threw the puck into the slot from behind the net. Gary Roberts slapped a hard shot past Wings’ goalie Manny Legace to put Toronto out in front.

In the second, Pavel Dastyuk scored on a rebound just as a two-man advantage for Detroit expired. Tomas Holmstrom deflected a shot by Jiri Fischer past Leafs’ netminder Mikael Tellqvist five minutes later to put Dertroit up by a goal.

Toronto got goals by Matthew Stajan, Roberts and Darcy Tucker in the third.